Challenge (or unit) coins are items that are popular with all branches of the military and paramilitary groups (such as police and fire departments). The coins represent the branch of the service or unit to which a person is attached. There is much tradition, history and lore with regard to challenge coins. Challenge coins were originally used by Special Forces to recognize soldiers for outstanding acts, to boost morale, and to build camaraderie. Today, challenge coins used to show pride in affiliating with a particular organization. Challenge coins are also designed to commemorate a specific event. No longer available just to members of a particular organization, challenge coins now have become available to the general public (including collectors) through sales at the post office and other venues.
Once challenge coins have been acquired the problem becomes how to display the coins. Most traditional coin displays are complicated and difficult to manufacture. Many of these display cases have a casing in which the coin is inserted. The problem with these cases, however, is that odd-shaped coins usually do not fit in the casing and thus cannot be displayed in the display case. Another problem with traditional display cases is that the location of the coins on each level is fixed. Thus, depending on the number of coins being displayed, symmetric spacing between the coins is either impossible or difficult to achieve. Thus, what is needed is a coin display apparatus and method that displays coins to their maximum advantage and allows easy, simple and individual positioning and inspection of each coin being displayed.